Motor will not return to profit until at least 2014, says Ernst & Young

The firm said that, despite premium increases last year which saw net combined ratio improve from 122.1% to 105.5% - the sharpest year on year improvement since 1991 - the industry on the whole still did not make a profit, and was unlikely to do so in the foreseeable future as the market was beginning to soften again.

Catherine Barton, partner in Ernst & Young’s financial services actuarial team, said: “We had been hopeful that this was the year that the industry would turn a profit but rate